Should the contractor be paid for this work? If so, how much?

10 years ago

A contractor did a bathroom remodel for my parents, and did an unsatisfactory job. The tile was very poorly installed, and can't be "fixed" without ripping it out and starting from scratch. The contractor who did the work wants to be paid for the materials, and has agreed to drop the labor charge. He's offered to fix the mistakes, but my parents don't want him doing any more work for them.

He was given a deposit that amounted to a little over half the materials cost. (We don't know if he's marking up the materials or not, he has not provided original receipts, just his bill.) What is fair in this situation? Nobody wants to stiff anyone out of money they're owed, and we're trying to identify standard protocol.

(If you're having a deja vu, I did post a different question earlier about this same job.)

Here are a few photos of the work that was done, and was supposedly finished (MANY more where this came from, these are just my personal favorites):

Featured Answer

PRO

Cancork Floor Inc.

10 years ago

I would say "Materials Only" with proof of purchase. Your deposit is already in his possession (you won't have a snowball's chance in Hades getting that back) If he wants the rest (this needs to be redone = more materials) he can provide receipts.

Your parent's need more materials. Technically he should be redoing this on HIS DIME....at which time he gets the FULL payment. He's not redoing it so there has to be some sort of line in the sand.

If he wants full payment for product purchased, he can provide you with more product (too bad if he wasted money on a bad install) he can provide one of two things:

1) Enough material to start again (no receipts needed)

2) Receipts for purchased product already installed (receipts provided)

Good luck. At least you are able to cut ties and are ready to move to the next person who should be a qualified tile installer.

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Comments (6)

ejpinkc
Original Author
10 years ago
So, Cancork, to clarify, you think they should pay his cost for the materials that will need to be ripped out? So it would be protocol for them to pay for the materials twice?
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User
10 years ago
You are not seriously giving that guy a chance to screw it up again????
User
10 years ago
Pay nothing more, not even for the materials. It will cost you more money to rip out his current job and pay for more material. He sucks, end of story!
ejpinkc
Original Author
10 years ago
No, definitely not, GreenDesigns! Just trying to make sure our inclination, which is to not pay him any more, is the correct way to go. I feel bad - I know he's probably out some cash, he has a family, etc. They'll have someone else start over. So whatever is paid him will be in addition to a complete do-over.
PRO
Berg Building & Remodeling
8 years ago
This gentleman took a job he had no business doing I'm a contractor and I can totally appreciate the fact that he work hard but in reality he cost you a lot of money I know you don't want to stiff anybody but I really don't see how you could pay him for work that needs to be completely redone even if you lost the original receipts it's 2018 I'm sure the store you bought the tile from has away of reprinting a receipt and at the very least you could call the store give them the name of the tile and the square footage and they could tell you how much it actually cost he either marked up his tile to begin with which a lot of contractors mark up their material or he's marking up the material now because he knows he's probably not going to get paid for any labor